Mar 4, 2013

After some initial attempts at the Outright Sailing Speed Record late last year, Alexandre Caizergues and Rob Douglas will be back in action from 10 March to 18 April 2013 at the new speed spot in France’s Salin-de-Giraud.

With an average speed of 53.40 knots for the American and 52.45 knots for the Frenchman over 500 metres, the first “Salt and Speed” session proved to be a popular success, as well as enabling the kitesurfers to validate the Volkswagen Transporter Arena and rack up the year’s best world performance in kitesurfing. Since that time, Alex and Rob have put in a lot of training both on and off the water so as to continue to make technical and physical advances. Alex Caizergues has linked together a series of sessions in South Africa and Qatar, whilst Rob has been in Costa Rica. As such the two guys are honed and ready to boost their record haul, a bid which will initially involve trying to improve on the current World kitesurfing speed record held by Rob Douglas himself (55.65 knots). “We mustn’t let our imagination run away with us. It’s going to take a while to go faster than SailRocket 2 and her 65.45 knots, but at this particular speed spot, Rob’s world record is within our grasp and 60 knots is a reasonable target,” explains Alex Caizergues. “Weather conditions in early March are often excellent with a strong Mistral and we’re feeling motivated. We’ll be working with the same organisation team as you don’t change a winning team.”

Alexandre Caizergues:

Born on 14 March 1979

3 x World Speed Champion (2007, 2008, 2009)2 x World Speed Record all categories combined in 2008 and 20102 x World Kite Speed Record in 2007 and 20092 x FFVL (French Free Flight Federation) French Speed Champion European Long Distance Number Two 2008World Speed Number Two 2006